


Knight in Sneakers

by PinkBlossom



Series: Collide - The Series [4]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, Papa Bear Jethro Gibbs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 10:42:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29758446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkBlossom/pseuds/PinkBlossom
Summary: ‘I need you. I’m at the school. Jenson has been suspended for punching another kid. He’s currently crying hysterically in the principal’s office. Eilidh has locked herself in a cupboard and is refusing to come out. I’m not getting anything out of either of them and the school are not being very helpful and threatening all sorts unless something is sorted out soon.’
Relationships: Jethro Gibbs/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Collide - The Series [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2143911
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Knight in Sneakers

The silence of the car ride back to the Navy Yard was interrupted by the ringing of Jethro’s phone. He answered without checking the caller ID, expecting it to be McGee telling him he they had another lead.

‘Gibbs,’ he spoke as he held the phone to his ear.

‘Hi, are you able to talk?’

‘Mary? Yeah sure just give me a minute,’

He pulled into a parking lot. Not wanting to intrude, Jack leapt out the car and went for a walk. Jethro held the phone to his ear again.

‘Hey, I’m here.’

‘I need you. I’m at the school. Jenson has been suspended for punching another kid. He’s currently crying hysterically in the principal’s office. Eilidh has locked herself in a cupboard and is refusing to come out. I’m not getting anything out of either of them and the school are not being very helpful and threatening all sorts unless something is sorted out soon.’

‘Jenson*punched* someone?’ Jethro said in disbelief, signalling to Jack to get back in the car.

‘Apparently so. I can’t get any sense out of him. Honestly, you’d think he was the one who was punched. Something isn’t adding up.’

Jack leapt back in the car, trying to read Gibbs’ furrowed brow.

‘Me and Jack are about twenty minutes away. We’ll be with you soon.’

With the call ended, Jethro pulled out the parking lot and towards the school. As he did, he regaled Jack with the situation.

‘Well both kids going off on the same day is a bit suspicious don’t you think? And Jenson punching someone? Really?’

‘Yeah I know. It’s all a bit…’

‘Hinky!’ Jack retorted.

Gibbs smiled. Abby’s favourite word had made it into everyone’s lexicons. He drove quickly towards the school, not liking the idea of not being there. Usually if one of the kids was upset, the other would help calm them down. Mary was more than capable of coping with them both so for her to call and directly ask for help meant the situation was serious.

‘Do you want me to come with you?’ Jack asked as the car stopped.

‘Yeah, might need you,’

Both agents got out the car and headed into reception. Even from the desk, they could hear Jenson wailing. After confirming who they were there for, Jethro found Mary who was trying to coax Eilidh out of the cupboard. The school were threatening to take the door off with an electric drill. Jack took the principal to one side and warned her of the repercussions of using something loud near a child who had watch her parents die by gunfire.

The situation was chaotic, it was hard to know which child to try and tackle first. Amongst the three of them, they decided that Jethro was probably going to have more success with Jenson and Jack and Mary were going to stay with Eilidh and hopefully convince her to leave the cupboard. Jethro went to the office where an exhausted Jenson was sobbing in the corner of the room. It was hard not to feel a bit broken at the sight of the boy sat trembling on the floor with his face wet from the constant stream of tears. Crouching down next to him, Gibbs smiled at his adopted Grandson and the child threw himself into his arms. Standing up, Jethro carried the boy outside, cradling him close to him. Gradually the cries subsided which Jethro felt was more likely exhaustion. Walking round the playground, Jethro sat on a bench, placing Jenson on his lap and gently stroking his hair. He noted the red marks on the child’s left knuckles. He’d certainly hit something. Eventually, light snores could be heard indicating that Jenson had fallen asleep.

‘Is Jenson ok?’ a little voice asked.

Gibbs looked around to see a little girl who looked about the same age as his Grandson, stood beside him.

‘He will be, he just got himself a little upset.’

The girl nodded.

‘I wish I had a brother like Jenson. He was so brave looking after his sister,’

‘Yeah? What did he do?’

‘Cassandra, get here right now young lady!’ An annoyed teacher yelled from the otherside of the yard.

‘I gotta go,’ the girl whispered solemnly as she walked towards the teacher.

Something had definitely gone off here. Fumbling in his pocket, while trying to keep Jenson still, Gibbs pulled out his phone and called Abby.

‘Abby? I want you to check CCTV from Elmvale Elementary for Jenson and Eilidh in the last two hours.’

‘Sure thing Gibbs, are they ok?’

‘Well, Jenson’s cried himself to sleep on my shoulder and Eilidh has locked herself in a cupboard.’

‘Hmmm hinky. I’ll let you know what I find.’

Putting the phone back in his pocket, Gibbs rose from the bench and went back inside to see if Mary and Jack were having better luck extracting Eilidh from the cupboard. He found them both sat on the floor outside the door.

‘Eilidh, Grandpa is here and Jenson is fast asleep on his shoulder, like when we went to the zoo for your birthday, do you remember?’ Mary spoke quietly to the door.

‘Yeah,’ came a timid reply.

Both women’s eyes widened, it was the first response they’d had from the girl.

‘Aww I’ve not been to the zoo in ages!,’ Jack mused. ‘I love the meercats.’

‘They’re definitely Jenson’s favourite,’ Mary added.

‘What about you, Eilidh, what’s your favourite animal.

‘Giraffe,’ came the small reply.

Gibbs’ phone started to trill. He got it out of his pocket and held it to his ear.

‘Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs!’

‘Hey Abs. What ya got.’

‘Well I was right. Definite hinky stuff going on. Are you still holding Jenson?’

‘Yeah,’

‘Well, you need to hug him a bit tighter because he’s a little legend. I’m sending the video to Jack. And Gibbs?’

‘Yes Abby,’

‘He has a mean left hook.’

Jack’s phone pinged, both women stood up and they crowded around Jethro so they could see the clip from the CCTV. It showed Eilidh being picked on by a group of older boys. They grabbed her bag and threw it amongst themselves before emptying in on the ground. The ringleader walks up to the clearly terrified child and starts undoing her hair clips. Out of the corner of the screen, they saw Jenson come in to view. He tries to lead Eilidh away from the bullies, but these older boys have other ideas and try to goad Jenson into a fight. He continues to hold on to Eilidh, putting himself between her and them, an action that elicited a cooing sound from Jack. The ringleader stabbed his finger into the boy’s chest, getting in his face and attempting to get a reaction. Jenson did not budge so the older boy reframed his attention on to Eilidh and pulled at her hair. Jenson once again puts himself in between them. The bully leans in and tries to pull Eilidh away and in that moment, Jenson snaps, landing a punch squarely on the jaw of the older kid who falls backwards. Once he is on the floor, Jenson grabs Eilidh and the pair take off.

Without thinking about it, Jethro holds his young charge a little tighter. He looks to Mary, her face reflecting the pure anger she was feeling.

‘Can I borrow that please Jack?’ Mary held her hand out.

‘Sure,’ Jack handed the phone to Mary who immediately marched off towards the principal’s office.

Jack walked back up to the cupboard door, putting her mouth near to the wood

‘Eilidh, we know what happened. Jenson is not in any trouble and neither are you. Grandma has gone to sort it all out.’

Behind her, Jack is aware of movement. Looking around she see’s that Jenson is starting to stir. Gibbs gently strokes his hair, easing him back into consciousness.

Eilidh remained silent and Jack decided to leave her for a moment. She looked to Gibbs who was still holding on to the young boy.

‘I thought you were scary when you were angry. Remind me never to mess with Mary,’

With a wry smile on his lips, Gibbs looked at Jack.

‘Never cross her in Grandma-bear mode. She takes no prisoners.

‘Hey Grandpa,’ Jenson uttered, his voice full of sleep.

‘Hey Buddy, you ok?’

‘Yeah, I fell asleep. Where’s Eilidh?’

‘She’s in the cupboard. Do you want to talk to her?’

He nodded his head and his Grandpa let him down. He put his hands and the side of his face up against the door.

‘Are you Ok Eilidh? We’re ok now, Grandma and Grandad are here. We can go home.’

After a short pause, the door was unlocked, and out came a dishevelled looking Eilidh. Jenson took her hand and lead her out.

‘You two are just too cute you know?’ Jack sighed smiling at the sight of Jenson fussing over his friend.

They walked back towards reception where Mary was emerging from the principal’s office. The anger from before had dissipated (all over the Principal, Jethro reckoned) and she beamed a smile at seeing both children walking hand in hand.

‘Thanks for that,’ Mary handed the phone back to Jack.

‘Can we go home now Grandma?’ Jenson asked, his eyes still sleepy from the events of the day.

‘We can.’

‘Why don’t you go home too, Gibbs? Everything is ticking over at work. Think those kids deserve a treat after today.’ Jack suggested. To her surprise, he handed her the keys to the work car so she could get back home.

Both kids were relieved to get back home. Mary took one look at Eilidh’s knotted and dishevelled hair and suggested they get it washed and spend a bit of time making it look nice again. Jethro took Jenson to the basement, where they did some work on the jewellry boxes they were making for his Grandma and Eilidh.

‘So, I’m not in trouble for punching that boy?’ Jenson asked.

‘No. Not at all,’

‘He was being horrible to Eilidh and I didn’t like it.’

Jethro glanced at the boy who was sporting a serious look on his face. He clearly needed to talk about today’s events.

‘Has he been horrible to Eilidh before?’

Jenson nodded his head while slowly sanding the top of the box he was working on.

‘I didn’t know what to do. He’s horrible to me too but I just ignore him.’

Gibbs gently put his tools down and put a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

‘You did everything right Jenson. We saw the video from the CCTV. I think when I was your age, I’d have hit that boy long before you did. He kept trying to make you fight and you kept ignoring him. When you did hit him, you only did it to get Eilidh out of the way.’

‘He was making Eilidh sad. I don’t like it when Eilidh is sad,’ he replied quietly.

They spend an hour in the basement before returning to the ground floor. Mary was sat on the couch, plaiting Eilidh’s hair. As soon as she finished, Eilidh leapt up and ran off to play with Jenson. Jethro sat down next to Mary, putting his arm around her shoulder.

‘We need to find another school for the kids,’ she sighed, resting her head against his shoulder.

‘I guessed so. What did the Principal say?’

‘She tried to say I had the footage illegally which I told her was beside the point when it clearly showed she had wilfully punished the wrong child despite evidence that two children were being harassed. I asked if she thought the school board would agree with the decision she’d made after viewing the footage. She refused to answer.’

‘We’ll start looking next week. They deserve somewhere better. That Prinicpal should have been commending Jenson, not punishing him. I told him I’d have hit that boy long before he did when I was his age.’

‘All he wanted to do was protect Eilidh. His Mom would have been so proud of him. I’m proud of him too. Proud of them both.’

‘I guess they deserve to choose where we have dinner then?’ Jethro asked.

‘Sure, go ask them. But we both know it will be pizza.

Jethro got up and chuckled as we went to ask the kids. He knew it would be pizza again but after today, he didn’t give a damn.


End file.
